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Washington Still Seeks New Sanction Formula on Iraq: US Official
A senior US official said Sunday that Washington is still seeking a modified sanction scheme on Iraq, which will ease the suffering of the Iraqi people but tighten control on Iraq's purchases of weapons.
The United States is "committed to ending sanctions on Iraqi civilians and focuses on the effective weapons control issue," William Burns, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, told a press conference held at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait.
Burns said "I think that we have made some progress in that direction and have built up a fair amount of international support within the U.N. Security Council."
But he acknowledged that "we have run into some questions, concerns and objections by the Russians which we are still working on."
The U.S. has thrown weight behind a British proposal that calls for lifting ban on Iraq's imports of civilian goods while maintaining military embargo on the Iraqi government.
But the proposal, similar to a U.S.-mulled version of "smart sanctions", has not won enough support in the U.N. Security Council.
Iraq has been under stringent U.N. sanctions since 1990 for its invasion of neighboring Kuwait. Iraq has claimed that thousands of Iraqi civilians died due to shortages of food, medicine and other essential materials resulting from the decade-old U.N. sanctions on Iraq.
Burns arrived in Kuwait earlier Sunday on a one-day visit, during which he held talks with Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah on bilateral ties, regional and international issues of common concern.
He reaffirmed U.S. committment to Kuwait's defense and security, as well as the stability of the region.
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